Post by bluepride on Sept 14, 2011 15:24:18 GMT -5

Take A Break!

Take care of yourself by recognizing when you need to step away

Sometimes you just need a break. Stress can creep up on you when you least expect it, and then all of a sudden you’re on the verge of breaking something out of frustration. We’ve all been there. During one of my shifts, I kindly suggested that maybe it was time for my coworker to take a break. I still don’t know exactly what happened to prompt the string of not so professional words that came spewing out like pea soup from my coworker’s mouth. After dodging the darts that nearly took off my head, she took a short walk around the building and came back with a much better attitude.

My agency currently works 12-hour shifts. My supervisors are very good at making sure that everyone gets their breaks in during their tour of duty. They even have it in our SOP’s to make sure that our break and meals times are taken away from the communications center. They know that it’s important for us to disengage ourselves from our work in order to be alert and fresh for our brothers and sisters on the road. It’s so important to be on top of your game in our profession.

On the other hand, I’ve also worked for an agency where staffing was so limited that you were lucky to get a bathroom break—much less a lunch break. Many times I found myself in the bathroom with a portable radio just hoping nothing happened while I pulled up my britches and washed my hands before I went running down the hall back into the radio room, yelling, “I’m here! I’m here!” One shift actually got to hear the toilet flushing as I asked them to “stand by” and forgot to un-key the microphone. Oops. Those were the days! I look back on those years and wonder how we even survived. Oh yeah, now I remember: Slurpees and leftover pizza that patrol would bring us in between calls.

Wow! How timely is this??!! Just after taking a few Advil to calm my aching head, I ran across this article! Sometimes you just gotta say, "f*ck it!" and take a break from everything and everybody!! And that's what I need to do for the rest of today!!!

Post by TheBear on Sept 14, 2011 18:50:59 GMT -5

Sometimes you just need a break. Stress can creep up on you when you least expect it, and then all of a sudden you’re on the verge of breaking something out of frustration. (CLIP...)

Thank you, BluePride.

I have posted about STRESS and TRAUMA in the past. Tommy describes well an incident of Stress when an officer was "at the edge" of acute Stress. Severe (acute) stress can Traumatize one. And deep, soul-wrenching TRAUMA can individually or cumulatively destroy one's very foundational ability to cope with life.

I have shared a YouTube from The Badge of Life in the past. I inviteBluePridersto watch it (below) ... and take particular note of the inscriptions. Think about Stress. Think about Trauma. Stress happens in life. Trauma leaves scars, physical and/or to the psyche. Sometimes re-traumatized scars are ripped open. It happens too often to LEOs. Such was the case on 9-11. Still today from 9-11-01, there are those who are physically alive but whose soul is mortally wounded or has died. PTSD takes lives.

Post by Youn0469 on Sept 15, 2011 1:57:49 GMT -5

Thanks Bear for posting this.

Some times I really think about what I'm trying to get myself into. There are days where I wonder if I can handle the stress, the emotions, and the pain. There are days I wonder about if I have a family what will be the impact on them, on me? What toll will the profession take on me? How will I handle a domestic situation?

I, quite honest to god, worry about how I will react to a lot of this stuff. There are days I hope I don't choke, that my years of training and education will pay off and help me when the time comes.

I'm sure that I will be fine, but it's something I feel I must ask myself because I feel I cannot be certain of myself if I cannot ask myself these questions. I always feel the need to explore my humanity and understand it better.

Busting through books and breaking down walls, such is the life of a LEO student.

Post by TheBear on Sept 15, 2011 8:40:06 GMT -5

Some times I really think about what I'm trying to get myself into. There are days where I wonder if I can handle the stress, the emotions, and the pain. There are days I wonder about if I have a family what will be the impact on them, on me? What toll will the profession take on me? How will I handle a domestic situation?

I, quite honest to god, worry about how I will react to a lot of this stuff. There are days I hope I don't choke, that my years of training and education will pay off and help me when the time comes.

I'm sure that I will be fine, but it's something I feel I must ask myself because I feel I cannot be certain of myself if I cannot ask myself these questions. I always feel the need to explore my humanity and understand it better.

You are welcome, Josh. Yes, you will be fine. You won't choke. You may stub a toe (we all do!) and limp a little for a short while on your life's journey. You may have some experiences that necessitate changing your underwear (I think Attends were invented for me! Holy Sh*t!) There simply is no substitute for life experience and, by definition, that takes... experience in life.

But the experiences on the road of life do not have to be haphazard fate. One of my mentors, Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, wrote the book "Death, the Final Stage of Growth." All of life's road is a learning/growth experience... and we learn/grow along that road until we die.

However, I feel it is very helpful for one to have a map and travel life's road with insight. Life is perilous and too many people stubbornly charge ahead, ignoring the wisdom of a roadmap that is offered to them. The storms of life and a sudden detour come along and they end up in a muddy ditch.

Thus, I really do encourage you to study up on Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. It's a wonderful map to understand what the heck DO I need along life's road(?)

I wish for you Self Actualization, Josh. Having a map to know what it means, what it contains and what must precede it on life's road is a wonderful place to start.

Post by bluepride on Sept 3, 2012 15:15:51 GMT -5

A nice article that appeared recently in the Washington Blade.....

Dealing with stress

I had not exercised in more than two weeks, was eating tons of sugar, not sleeping well, clenching my jaw, had muscle aches, talking less and thinking way too much. I felt as if the walls were closing in and that I was suffocating.

Life had not necessarily thrown me any curve balls that I had not dealt with in the past, but how I was reacting to these stressors had changed. I was simply not taking care of myself and was too busy trying to take care of everyone else and it was taking a toll on me. I was stressed to the max!

Stress is a fact of life and cannot be avoided. However, I believe that managing stress and self care works better than a reactive, “Oh-no — what-can-I-do-now” approach. A proactive approach to managing stress can make a huge difference. I think all too often we let stress build and it can rear its ugly head in physical manifestations, just as it has for me these last couple weeks.

Exercise, while not the end all, can help your manage life stressors and stave off some of the physical and emotional manifestations of stress. Understanding how the body reacts to stress and what one can do to allay these responses, can make all the difference. No one should let stress levels build to the point where you feel out of control or overwhelmed. Take action before you get to that point.

I can’t control the external stimuli that are causing me burden, but I can affect how I deal with these stressors. I think this is where people can fall short or neglect caring for themselves until it’s too late. Stress ultimately can kill you. Unmanaged stress leads to distress. And while stress can’t be eliminated, it can be alleviated.

Despite my penchant for Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches and Swedish Fish candy, I’ve always maintained an exercise program and had relatively nutritional eating habits. Yes, we’ve all had times where we’ve taken quick, unhealthy routes to circumvent the stress at hand — who hasn’t tried to curtail a night of tossing and turning by heading to the fridge? — but this isn’t wise to make a regular practice.

Creating a healthy tool box and constructing a solid wellness foundation is essential — akin to weathering the perfect storm or batting down the hatches in preparation for the storm. The storm will come, no matter how much sunshine we have in our lives, and the more we equip ourselves, the better off we will be before the storm, during the storm and dealing with its aftermath.

Post by TheBear on Sept 4, 2012 8:23:41 GMT -5

Creating a healthy tool box and constructing a solid wellness foundation is essential — akin to weathering the perfect storm or batting down the hatches in preparation for the storm. The storm will come, no matter how much sunshine we have in our lives, and the more we equip ourselves, the better off we will be before the storm, during the storm and dealing with its aftermath.

This is essentially what I do in my post-mortem Grief Counseling work... and particularly in working with those in Anticipatory Grief (of losing one's self for those who are dying).

The TOOLBOX of coping mechanisms is different for each person... and not always easy to identify. And, one's life-learned "toolbox" may not be truly healthful in that it contains unproductive beliefs/behaviors.

While we love to have FUN and joke around in our forum (a very healthful part of it, as a matter of fact,) I would like to share something I wrote many years ago after working with Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross...

In my understanding, Dr. Kubler-Ross intended to present the theory of “stages” of grief as “lenses” through which aspects or features of the grief process may be viewed. Thus, like colored glass in a kaleidoscope, subtle differences are projected in hues, tints, and shadings through the lenses in life’s final stage of growth and holistic status of the being.

And, just as the sun transverses the sky casting unimaginably complex angles, intensities and combinations of light through the lenses, so are revealed the manifestations of Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Accommodation.

These inter-mingling, last-dance players are illuminated by the repositioning light and lenses, wafting back and forth as a tide of emotion and pain – and hopefully love and joy – until there is a magnificent sunset ending a worldly life… and the night brings a veil beyond which we cannot see.

Post by Youn0469 on Sept 4, 2012 23:36:10 GMT -5

Wow! This couldn't have been more timely!!!

Right now I am starting at a new school, trying to get into a PD that I would DREAM to work for and I'm meeting new people every day. Not to mention I have the added stress of a fast paced work environment dealing with addicts, homeless, drunks, and stupid people on a nightly basis… I'm working a new security gig in Downtown Minneapolis along a busy street close to several bars.

I looked at my previous comment from almost a year ago and in that year I have learned a lot. My new job has gotten me used to chaos intermixed with insanity and I have further been to the gym more, eating healthy more and my attitude is like it has never been before. More importantly I think I have found my escape at the gym. I go there and all I focus on is me, nothing else…for the most part ;D HEHE.

Post by TheBear on Sept 5, 2012 15:39:49 GMT -5

Right now I am starting at a new school, trying to get into a PD that I would DREAM to work for and I'm meeting new people every day. Not to mention I have the added stress of a fast paced work environment dealing with addicts, homeless, drunks, and stupid people on a nightly basis… I'm working a new security gig in Downtown Minneapolis along a busy street close to several bars. ... (clip)...